American Senator Bernie Sanders expressed strong opposition to the H-1B visa, criticizing Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for their support for supporting H-1B program that brings foreign workers to America.

Bernie Sanders was speaking on the floor of the United States Senate about his H-1B amendment to the Laken Riley Act, which would ensure that it is never cheaper for a firm to hire a guest worker from overseas than an American worker at home.

Bernie pointed out that Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world with a net worth of nearly $430 billion, and other multi-billionaires in the high-tech industry claim that the H-1B federal guest worker program is vital to America’s economy because of the scarcity of highly skilled engineers and other technology workers in the United States. “In my view, they are dead wrong,” said Sanders

The main function of the H-1B program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with hundreds of thousands of lower-paid guest workers from abroad who are often treated as indentured servants. The cheaper it is to hire guest workers, the more money the multi-billionaire owners of large corporations make.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, between 2022 and 2023, the top 30 companies using the H-1B program laid off 85,000 American workers, while simultaneously bringing in over 34,000 guest workers from abroad.

In 2019 and 2020, 85 percent of H-1B visas were awarded to entry-level and junior guest workers who are paid between 20 to 40 percent less than American workers in similar occupations.

Bernie went on to share some examples on the usage of H-1B visas in the corporate America.

In Dallas, H-1B software developers are making $44,000 less than American workers doing the exact same job.

In Houston, H-1B accountants are paid nearly $40,000 less than American accountants doing the exact same work.

In Santa Barbara, California H-1B workers who are hired as computer system engineers make just $45,000 a year. The median wage for an American computer systems engineer is over $110,000 a year.

So, Bernie argued, why would a corporation hire an American computer systems engineer at a salary of $110,000 a year when it is $65,000 cheaper to hire an H-1B worker for that same exact position?

Bernie categorically remarked that corporate America is using H-1B program to substantially undercut the wages of American workers

Adding insult to injury, Sanders said that half of the top 30 H-1B employers are companies whose major function in life is to outsource jobs – known in the industry as “body shops.”

Lastly, Bernie Sanders, harshly criticizing the H-1B visa program, stated, “If this program is really supposed to be about importing workers with highly advanced degrees in science and technology, why are H-1B guest workers being employed as fashion models, lawyers, dog trainers, massage therapists, cooks, and English teachers?”